Booth Looking For Haye’s Next Challenger Now That Chagaev Bout Looks “Impossible” Due To Health Problems – Mormeck Rematch One Option!

By James Slater – Adam Booth, the trainer and manager of WBA heavyweight titlist David Haye, is searching as we speak for the next suitable challenger for his man. Now that a fight with Wladimir Klitschko is “dead in the water,” and a fight with Wlad’s big brother Vitali not looking too promising either, Booth has been scanning the WBA rankings to see who will be next in line for Haye, when he fights again, probably in May.

Ruslan Chagaev was thought to be the guy, as he is Haye’s mandatory, but Booth, in checking out the former WBA champ’s current health, has come away thinking the fight will be “impossible” to make. Due to the Hepatitis B Chagaev reportedly suffers from, he will not be going in the ring with “The Hayemaker,” either in May or at any other time.. But who will Haye face next instead?

According to an interview Booth gave with ffboxe.com whilst over on France recently, it may well be none other than Jean Marc Mormeck; the former cruiserweight champion who Haye beat in an exciting 2007 clash. “The Marksman,” 3-0 as a heavyweight and now aged 38, has been chasing a return with the man who stopped him in the 7th-round in Paris and now, according to Booth, he may be sufficiently ranked by the WBA so as to get his dream fight.

“Logically, David was supposed to fight Chagaev, but the news about his health is not very good,” Booth said. “He reportedly suffers from Hepatitis B, which makes their confrontation impossible. I then looked at the classification of the WBA and I found nothing terrible in the top-ten. But I saw that Jean Marc Mormeck is now ranked in the top-ten. I think that makes a fight with Mormeck-Haye possible.

“Haye-Mormeck in England is possible. But if France wants to see this fight in Paris, David is quite ready to return.”

Booth’s statements must of course be put into context: he may have simply been asked by a French reporter if there is any way the local French hero has a real shot at the rematch he wants with Haye. It may not be that Booth is trying his best to make the fight. However, Haye’s main man did at least say the fight is a possibility. How will the fans react if this indeed is the match-up Haye takes in May?

With Chagaev out, and with fights against the Klitschkos “unavailable,” there are not too many big names out there for Haye. And a return with Mormeck would make money; in France especially. Haye’s critics will certainly have a field day if he signs to meet the 38-year-old who has failed to impress in a single of his heavyweight performances, but who else can Haye fight?

Without a Klitschko or an Adamek (who is reportedly a whisker away from getting that talked-of September date with Wladimir signed and sealed for Poland), Haye is struggling for opponents. It just might be that we get a rematch of the cruiserweight showdown that made Haye a world champion in the first place!